{"id":8190,"date":"2020-12-15T07:34:00","date_gmt":"2020-12-15T12:34:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.elca.org\/faithlens\/?p=8190"},"modified":"2020-12-10T15:46:18","modified_gmt":"2020-12-10T20:46:18","slug":"december-20-2020","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.elca.org\/faithlens\/december-20-2020\/","title":{"rendered":"December 20, 2020&#8211;Favorite"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><b>Ellen Rothweiler, Des Moines, IA<\/b><\/p>\n<p><b>Warm-up Question<\/b><\/p>\n<p>Who is the favorite in your family?<\/p>\n<p><b>Favorite<\/b><\/p>\n<p>The holidays expose underlying family dynamics in many families. Time together, gift giving, and special meals can all offer an opportunity for favoritism among siblings and cousins, or at least the illusion of such. Also, you bear a burden if you are the favorite. More is expected of you.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>You are the person in the family who is expected to fix things or take care of everyone.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>On the other hand, remember that song from the Sound of Music \u201cMy Favorite Things\u201d? Singing about their favorite things made the kids and Maria feel better when they were afraid or worried.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>Favorite can be a good thing when we are talking about colors, or foods, or songs. Somehow, when we talk about people it sets up rank in groups.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Like so many things, the idea of \u201cfavorite\u201d has both positive and negative consequences.<\/p>\n<p><b>Discussion Questions<\/b><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>How do you know when something is your favorite?<\/li>\n<li>Are you someone\u2019s favorite? How does that feel?<\/li>\n<li>Are you not the favorite? How does that feel?<\/li>\n<li>Why do you think the idea of favorites in groups of people is divisive?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><b>Fourth Sunday of Advent<\/b><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/bible.oremus.org\/?ql=474528300\">2 Samuel 7:1-11, 16<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/bible.oremus.org\/?ql=474528328\">Romans 16:25-27<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/bible.oremus.org\/?ql=474528367\">Luke 1:26-38<\/a><\/p>\n<p>(Text links are to <a href=\"http:\/\/bible.oremus.org\/\">Oremus Bible Browser<\/a>. Oremus Bible Browser is not affiliated with or supported by the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. You can find the calendar of readings for Year B at <a href=\"https:\/\/www.elca.org\/Our-Work\/Congregations-and-Synods\/Worship\/Lectionary\/YearB\">Lectionary Readings<\/a>.)<\/p>\n<p>For lectionary humor and insight, check the weekly comic <a href=\"http:\/\/www.agnusday.org\/\">Agnus Day.<\/a><\/p>\n<p><b>Gospel Reflection<\/b><\/p>\n<p>We hear the story of the Angel Gabriel visiting Mary every year during the season of Advent. It is an important part of the story of Jesus coming to Earth to be Emanuel, \u201cGod With Us.\u201d The angel greets Mary by saying, \u201cGreetings favored one!\u201d and \u201cDo not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God\u2026\u201d Then the angel tells her she is going to have a baby boy, God\u2019s son. Mary says \u201cHere am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.elca.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2020\/12\/iStock-1156403382.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright wp-image-8200 size-medium\" src=\"https:\/\/blogs.elca.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2020\/12\/iStock-1156403382-300x212.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"212\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blogs.elca.org\/faithlens\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2020\/12\/iStock-1156403382-300x212.jpg 300w, https:\/\/blogs.elca.org\/faithlens\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2020\/12\/iStock-1156403382-1024x724.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/blogs.elca.org\/faithlens\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2020\/12\/iStock-1156403382-768x543.jpg 768w, https:\/\/blogs.elca.org\/faithlens\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2020\/12\/iStock-1156403382-250x177.jpg 250w, https:\/\/blogs.elca.org\/faithlens\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2020\/12\/iStock-1156403382-495x350.jpg 495w, https:\/\/blogs.elca.org\/faithlens\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2020\/12\/iStock-1156403382.jpg 1217w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>This is a strange thing to happen to God\u2019s favored. Mary\u2019s special treatment includes risking her marriage to Joseph, pregnancy, childbirth, fear, and danger. To this she says, \u201cHere I am!\u201d and agrees to be a part of giving this gift of Christ to the world. God incarnate. The Word made flesh. God chose Mary to bear this gift, and this burden. But Mary does not dwell on the burden of being favored, at least not in the account that Luke offers us. It is human to see the good and the bad in a thing, but Mary accepts this call and says, \u201clet it be with me according to your word.\u201d<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>We can all learn something from the way Mary models being favored; Acceptance. Grace. Strength. She does not worry about her way; she goes God\u2019s way and it takes her on quite the adventure to Bethlehem, Egypt and the cross. The angel does not say that since she is favored God has this easy thing for her to do, and she is going to enjoy every minute of it. Sometimes the most important things are the hardest. In these, and all things, God is with us\u2026Emmanuel.<\/p>\n<p><b>Discussion Questions<\/b><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Have you ever been asked to do something hard and\/or important? How did that feel?<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li>Have you ever said \u201cno\u201d to something because it was too hard or too much? Do you regret it or do you think you made the right choice?<\/li>\n<li>How do you make those kinds of decisions?<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><b>Activity Suggestions<\/b><\/p>\n<p>Listen to the song \u201cMy Favorite Things\u201d. There are many versions of this song out around Christmas. the lyrics to include your group\u2019s favorite things.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Closing Prayer<\/b><\/p>\n<p><span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">God of Love, in our baptism you claimed us and proclaimed us precious. \u00a0Give us joy in knowing you \u00a0favor us and courage in living out our calling as your servants. \u00a0Guide us, that we\u00a0may go where you send us and be signs to the world that you are indeed Emmanuel, God with us.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Ellen Rothweiler, Des Moines, IA Warm-up Question Who is the favorite in your family? Favorite The holidays expose underlying family dynamics in many families. Time together, gift giving, and special meals can all offer an opportunity for favoritism among siblings and cousins, or at least the illusion of such. Also, you bear a burden if [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1400],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8190","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-post"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>December 20, 2020-Favorite - Faith Lens<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/blogs.elca.org\/faithlens\/december-20-2020\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"December 20, 2020-Favorite - Faith Lens\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Ellen Rothweiler, Des Moines, IA Warm-up Question Who is the favorite in your family? 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